Cabinet for holding postage-stamps



(No Model.)

M. P. EXLINE. GABINET FOR HOLDING POSTAGE STAMPS, &0. No. 475,685. Patented May 24, 1892.

LIJTTEfi:- v l j -1 7 UNITED STATES PATENT ()FEI-GE.

MARCUS P. EXLINE, OF GALVESTON, TEXAS.

CABINET FOR HOLDING POSTAGE-STAMPS, 81.0.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 475,685, dated May 24, 1892. Application filed June 5, 1891. Serial No. 395,280. (No model-J To all whom it may concerns Be it known that I, MARCUS P. EXLINE, a citizen of the United States, residing at. Galveston,in the county of Galveston and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Postagc-Stamp-I-Iolding Books or Cabinets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention consists in a commercial postage-stamp holding, preserving, and denomination-indicating book, the same having its blank leaves formed of paper so prepared that postage-stamps will not adhere to them, and some of said leaves being provided at intervals with exposed tabs which have numerical indices marked upon them and serve for indicating the denominations of the stamps placed between the leaves at different parts of the book.

It also consists in a combination postagestamp holding, preserving, and denominationindicating book, a rigid outer supportingcabinet provided with means for confining the book, and also receptacles for pens, rubber, and other articles used by accountants or others.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective viewof my improved combined commercial postage-stamp-holding book and cabinet. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same, the book being partly open.

A represents the book comprising stout paper leaves a, oiled or waxed so as to render them incapable of adhering to postagestamps when the same are placed between them and the book closed. The leaves are bound atthe back with cloth, paper, or other fabric 1), which forms a flexible joint, and to this fabric light cover-boards c, faced, as usual, with common paper, are fastened or otherwise connected at points some distance forward of the back edges of the leaves.

The book thus prepared is furnished at in-- tervals with denomination-indicating tabs cZ say, for instance, forward of the first two leaves a tab with the figure 1 is applied to the front edge of a leaf, and three leaves forward of the tab No. 1 another tab with the figure 2 is applied on a leaf, and so on. Tabs having numbers 8, 4, 5, 10, 30, &c., are applied on leaves at proper intervals. The tabs are fastened by separating or splitting the doubled thickness of the paper along a portion of their length and fastening them to the upper and under sides of the leaves with sealing-wax or some other suitable strengthening-oement, as illustrated. The book thus prepared will hold a large quantity of postage-stamps of different denominations, and the accountant can in an instant open the book at the places where the denominations of stamps he wishes to use are placed, while at the same time all the inconvenience ensuing from stamps adhering to the leaves of the book is avoided.

The construction of a stamp holding and preserving book of waxed or oiled paper is not broadly new; but the special construction of such a book and the furnishing of the same with stamp-denomination index-tabs, as I have shown, is new.

In order to protect the book,I have provided a rigid cabinet or housing B, made of metal or other suitable materials. This cabinet has a primary bottom f, a narrow secondary bottom portion f, two sides 9, and a back It, and some distance forward of the back it another vertical portion m is provided, the same connecting with the secondary bottom f, and between the back 7L and the portion m partitions 11 are placed, the same dividing the space between the back h and portion at into compartments 1% for holding pins, pens, rubber, and the like, which compartments are closed by a hinged top 7o. As the portion m does not extend down to the primary bottom f of the cabinet, a space exists between it and the primary bottom, and in this space, beneath the bottom portion f, a A-shaped metal strip 0 is applied upon the primary bottomf across the cabinet, and between this strip and the compartment bottom portion f the flexibly-jointed back of the stamp holding and indicating book is wedged, so as to retain its position in the cabinet; or, if necessary, it may be further confined by paste or other suitable cement. By my invention a stamp-holding book or cabinet well adapted for commercial use is provided, the same admitting of being placed away in a desk-drawer or other place for the preservation of the stamps and when 9 emcee Wanted handled conveniently. The denomination-indiced tabs save time and Wear and tear of the book, as they avoid the turning over of the leaves to find the different denominations of stamps. These tabs also strengthen the leaves at the points Where they are applied, and by constructing the book in cabinet form its durability is insured and conveniences for holding pens and the like are afforded.

What I claim as my invention is 1. As an improved article of manufacture, the stamp holding and preserving bool': applied and confined in a cabinet or housing, all substantially as described.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, the stamp holding and preserving book applied and confined in a cabinet or housing having compartments for pens and other articles, substantially as described.

3. The combination, With the cabinet or housing provided With the bottom portions ff and inverted -V- shaped strip, of the stamp holding and preserviu g book, substantially as described.

MARCUS P. EXLINE.

XVitn esseszo J. C. ABERNATHY, Gus. MCLEAN. 

